CHAPTER 218: A MAN AND HIS EMOTIONAL SUPPORT JERKY

Cass felt like he’d just gotten a full body massage. He was relaxed, calm, and didn’t even feel like a snide remark from a Priest would upset him right now.

That was how relaxed he was after falling asleep in the glade.

He had his little trio following him now, his three knights. It was lovely to know that he had some help behind him who didn’t come with so much drama. A trio of friends, looking out for their friend’s master. Great.

Cass loved that for him.

When they arrived at the meeting spot, it was to find that Fiona was chatting rather seriously with Lucian and Vespertine, while Lady Ava and Lord Ridgewood were talking with the high Priest.

Everyone turned when they heard him approach, and Fiona was the first to speak. She had a smile on her face.

"You look so much better, Cass." She said. Relieved. She looked relieved that Cass was doing better. Lucian crossed his arms and nodded.

"You do look a lot better. I’m glad." He said. "In the future, you should really consider whether you should go into undead dungeons or not. They are terrible for your health." Lucian didn’t sound like he was scolding him, but he was clearly offering up unsolicited advice. Cass narrowed his gaze, but he was in too good of a mood to really get mad at him.

"It is noted." Cass said casually, before approaching the group. "What are Lady Ava and Lord Ridgewood speaking to that priest about?" Cass asked, noting how Sir Forsythe and the others hung back to give them some privacy. Vespertine sighed.

"The high Priest, my Father, has requested an audience with the hero and the hero party. While we were already planning to go to the capital, an official request is a little different. He hasn’t requested an audience before." Vespertine didn’t sound...happy about that. "You’ll have to attend. And there’s going to be a blessing that you can’t refuse without it looking...bad." Vespertine said. He didn’t sound happy. Cass, however, just shrugged.

"Well, that’s where the ring comes into play." Cass said casually and he groaned.

"You can’t wear it, remember? If you use magic to disguise it, it-"

"Who said anything about magic? I’ll just wear gloves." Cass said, cutting off Vespertine. He blinked, and Fiona laughed, smacking Vespertine’s shoulder.

"He’s got you there, Edgar." Fiona said with a smile. "How big? I don’t think I’ve seen you wear gloves either." Fiona said and Cass shrugged.

"I think I shoved some into my bag. Give me a sec." Cass was a bit of an over packer, but he liked to be prepared for anything. And look at that? He was right.

He pulled out a few pairs of nice, leather gloves in various sizes. Cass went with the medium size of the gloves, since he was sure that the small size was a perfect fit for his hands. Coincidentally, he was still wearing the ring, so he just attempted to slide the gloves over his fingers and over the ring.

It worked, and it didn’t look too weird.

Vespertine looked relieved, as did the other two.

"Thank goodness. I was ready for drastic measures, but I’m glad that we have found an easier solution. Shit. I can’t believe he did this. He didn’t even warn me either." Vespertine muttered angrily and Cass shrugged.

"This isn’t my first time having something this sudden thrown my direction. It’s fine." Cass said casually. "Are we planning to leave right away? Are we taking the same carriage?" Cass felt like he was asking the important questions and Fiona flushed.

"They...want Lady Ava and I to go in a different carriage. Some stupid protocol or something." She couldn’t even hide the smile on her face and Cass gave her a pointed look before he chuckled.

"Sure. I’m sure you are having a very hard time with that." Cass said dryly. "Famously, you two don’t get along at all." Fiona’s face lit up like a fuse and Lucian gave him a strange look.

"That’s not true. They-"

"That’s the joke, Lucy. Cass was being sarcastic." Vespertine cut him off, rolling his eyes. Lucian blinked a few times, before he nodded.

"I see. It was a good joke." Lucian told Cass, and that made Fiona burst into laughter. Cass was staring at Lucian like he had two heads. The man had understood jokes before, maybe Cass was just too good at sarcasm for him?

"Ah Fuck. Good luck with them, Cass. Do you want to go in our carriage?" She asked, turning to Cass and Cass would rather walk.

"No thank you. I would rather not be a third wheel." All three of them gave him a strange look and Cass groaned. Another word, another problem. "It means feeling out of place because of a couple. If there were two couples, it would be the fifth wheel. Basically the odd one out." Fiona nodded, as did Lucian. Vespertine chuckled.

"Awe. That’s sweet." Cass gave him a strange look. It wasn’t too long ago that Vespertine was asking if it was a bad thing. He was upset at the whole situation, and now he was...fine talking about it? Something about this felt fishy. Cass didn’t like it.

Lady Ava and Lord Ridgewood wrapped up their conversation with the priest in charge and came over. Lady Ava looked contemplative, while Lord Ridgewood looked normal. Unchanging.

"They have the carriages already prepared. Lord Ridgewood said he would like to act as an escort. He wants...to get some work outs in." Lady Ava said and Lord Ridgewood nodded.

"I’ve been feeling a little cooped up. I hope you don’t take it personally that I don’t want to ride in the carriage with you." He made a pointed look at Cass, who just shrugged.

It was everyone else who got a little up in arms about it, but Cass didn’t care.

"I don’t, especially if you were pointing that at me. Take your time, get some fresh air. I completely understand after being in that stagnant air for so long." Cass said. He really wasn’t taking it personally, and that seemed to surprise everyone but Lord Ridgewood.

"Thank you for being understanding. The priest said that we could leave the tents here, and set up." Cass nodded, stepping away from the group to get that done right away. One less attachment to them was all he needed.

Cass set up the tents in record time, so fast that Vespertine and Fiona were clapping when he turned around. Lady Ava was smiling at him warmly.

"That was really impressive, Cass." She said and Cass nodded. "They also offered some food for us to eat. I told them that Cass was on a strict diet, so he would be turning that down. Was that okay to do?" Lady Ava asked and Cass nodded.

"Thank you for making turning them down painless." Cass told her and she beamed.

"Of course! Anything I can do to help." She seemed happy that Cass had praised her. Fiona sighed.

"Well, let’s go at least eat some of the food that they brought. Soon, we’ll all be able to have a meal that we enjoy. Cass, could you send word back to the mansion and let them know we’ve cleared the dungeon and are now on the way to the capital?" Cass nodded.

It was something that Lord Blackburn had done plenty of times before. Cass remembered what it was, and how to do it because those memories he had access to. It was a simple sending spell, just one way. There was someone who was waiting on the other side for that message, and it wouldn’t take up too much of Cass’ magic power.

Focusing, Cass did the hand motions he remembered, sending a small message.

Dungeon clear. No one harmed. Heading to the capital.

He felt that was good enough, and sent it off. The thing about sending spells, especially since they were locked to a specific location like this one, is that you were given a notice by your own magic when it arrived.

It was while he was eating some jerky and the others were eating whatever the priests had made that Cass got the notification that the spell had arrived.

Cass caught Fiona’s eyes and gave her a thumbs up. They were sitting at the same table, but Cass was eating his own food. The priests seemed a little...weirded out by it, but Cass just hoped they chalked it up to him being strange, always.

Lord Blackburn had never been a normal guy.

Lucian was sat next to him to his right, and the chair next to him on his left had a priest in it. Cass was sat near the edge of the table, more out of consideration for him. If anyone else had seen this, they might have thought the party was isolating him, but that was also the reason why Lucian was sitting next to him on his right.

They were ’isolated’ together. Fiona clearly didn’t like it, since she kept glancing at him, while Cass was busy trying not to think about the fact that he was going to be in a carriage, alone, with the two men who had been bothering him.

He couldn’t even remember how long the carriage ride was going to be. He was really hoping it wasn’t going to be another full day. Couldn’t they just invent faster travel already? He missed buses and cars.

Cass just chewed on his jerky, tuning everyone else out. They were out of the dungeon. He could do that now.